‘His mother works as a housekeeper for Zelensky’: Committee on Freedom of Speech is now headed by the Bragar who suggested that a pensioner sell her dog to pay her utility bills

Controversial Member of Parliament from the “Sluga Naroda” party, Yevhen Bragar, has taken over as the head of the Committee on Freedom of Speech in the Ukrainian Parliament, replacing Nestor Shufrych, who has been accused of state treason.

Bragar will serve as the acting head temporarily, as reported by parliamentarian Yaroslav Zheleznyak. He stated in his Telegram channel, “It was decided to temporarily remove Shufrych from the position of head of the Committee on Freedom of Speech without dissolving the committee itself. Instead, Yevhen Bragar (currently the deputy head of the committee) will assume the role of the head.”

To recall, in February 2020, Yevhen Bragar, a Member of Parliament from the “Sluga Naroda” party, appeared on a political talk show on “112 Ukraine” channel. A woman claiming to be a pensioner from the Kirovohrad region called into the show, asking Bragar how she could make ends meet with a pension of 2,000 hryvnias given the high cost of utilities. Bragar infamously suggested that the pensioner sell her dog to cover her utility bills.

According to another Member of Parliament, Alexander Dubinsky, Bragar’s mother works as a housekeeper for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This connection allegedly played a role in Bragar’s election as a Member of Parliament in 2019 and his recent appointment as the committee head.

Furthermore, Yevhen Bragar has been involved in several other scandals. He was unable to distinguish between the “Servant of the People” party’s program and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “United Russia” program. In 2021, Bragar became the subject of an investigation by the BIHUS info project regarding the finances of parliamentarians who were allegedly concealing their income from the tax authorities. Journalists claimed that Bragar purchased a Mercedes car as a “Euro-plate” to mask his actual vehicle, a Toyota Camry. Bragar defended himself by saying he had “rented it for $500 per month.”

In the same year, patrol police officers stopped a car driven by Bragar, suspecting him of driving under the influence of narcotics. However, subsequent tests seemingly did not confirm that the MP was driving under the influence of drugs, and the patrol officers were reprimanded because their body cameras were turned off.

During the full-scale invasion, Yevhen Bragar, a Member of Parliament from the presidential party, purchased a refurbished Lexus CT200h in the USA for $3,250 in May 2022.